Fight Against Blight

Small North Lauderdale Community Needs Improvements.

May 31, 1995|By LISA J. HURIASH Staff Writer

NORTH LAUDERDALE - — Patron Village, a collection of 28 unassuming brown and yellow townhomes, sits on a small parcel of land just east of State Road 7.

Residents in neighboring communities within "The City of Tomorrow" hardly know Patron Village exists. Some people who live there aren't aware that the development has a name, since no sign identifies it.

It could be better, though residents say it could be worse. But this low-income neighborhood is a place to call home.

Patron Village has its problems.

City Mayor Gary Frankel describes the area, built in the early 1970s, as an "outcast" and "a problem" in need of attention and improvement.

Because of poor drainage in the area, standing water after a rain attracts mosquitoes and water sometimes rises up to the doors, said resident Dene Gary.

The area could also use more grass, flowers and plants, Gary said.

The street leading into the development, Southwest 13th Street, has potholes.

"There's a hole in the street," points out Gary's daughter, Shaquanna, 8.

Without a park or other facilities, there isn't much for children to do at Patron Village, said resident Angela James. But at least there are no gangs, no drugs and no crime, residents say. Police officials agree.

And in a community so small, residents talk to each other and keep track of what other people's kids are up to.

Residents say they would prefer homes with back yards and fences.

"But it's better than where I was coming from [in Lauderhill)," said Lorna Bloomfield. She said it's quiet at Patron Village and she doesn't worry about her four children playing outside.

"If I had enough money I wouldn't live here," Gary said. "But for now, it's good for me. All the kids play good together, black and white."

Outside James' living room window, she can hear the thump of basketballs. It's the neighborhood children who created a basketball court, improvising on a mound of dirt that was supposed to have been a swimming pool.

"The boys do that," she explained; the girls hang a shopping cart from a tree to make a swing.

The city hopes to make improvements around Patron Village.

Veronica Wasserman, community development program manager, said the city has applied for a $292,000 federal grant to rebuild streets, fix the drainage system and make sewer improvements in the small community.

Last year the city received $50,000 for the engineering plans for the project.

The money applied for would come through a federal Community Development Block Grant program set up by Congress in 1974 to benefit lowand moderate-income residents, eliminate blight and meet community redevelopment needs. Wasserman said fixing up Southwest 13th Street could also spur development in the five acres of empty land that area.

Aesthetic improvements have been made in the area through stricter code enforcement.

Police Capt. Robert Manfre, code enforcement section supervisor, said the city began to crack down on code violations last year by giving citations out for abandoned cars and homes in need of painting.

"This is a neighborhood that needs our help in providing a good quality of life," Wasserman said. "It needs to be upgraded, so we're doing what we can."